Manmohan Singh meets Suu Kyi, invites her to India

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Myanmar's iconic pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon on Tuesday.

The meeting, at Hotel Sedona, lasted over 45 minutes, officials said. Manmohan Singh arrived in Myanmar Sunday on a three-day trip. He is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the country in 25 years.

Aung San Suu Kyi said after meeting Manmohan Singh that she was "happy at the prospect of closer ties with India".

Manmohan Singh met Suu Kyi here on the third and final day of his official visit to oil-rich Myanmar with whom a dozen agreements were inked Monday. "India and Burma have been particularly close over the years," Nobel Laureate Suu Kyi told reporters after their over 45-minute meeting. "The struggle for India's independence took place at the same time as the struggle for Burma's independence," said a smiling Suu Kyi, who leaves Tuesday night for Thailand on her first overseas trip in nearly a quarter century.

Wearing a purple dress embellished with flowers, the National League for Democracy leader said she was "happy at the prospect of closer ties with India". "Our democratic goal is on the basis of peace and stability," she said as Manmohan Singh looked on.

She added that she was willing to take up the invitation to deliver the Jawaharlal Nehru memorial lecture in India.

Manmohan Singh said it had been a privilege to have met Suu Kyi, who studied in New Delhi'sLady Sri Ram College before pursuing higher studies in Oxford. "We in India are very proud of our long standing association with her and members of her family," said the prime minister. In a break from her previous meetings, Suu Kyi came to the Sedona Hotel to meet the Prime Minister. Other world leaders have called on her at her lakeside villa where she spent long years under house arrest.

Manmohan Singh said he had handed over a letter from Congress president Sonia Gandhi to deliver the Jawaharlal Nehru memorial lecture. He lauded Suu Kyi and said her life was one of "struggle and determination (which) has inspired millions of people all over the world".

- Asian Tribune –

Tweet